Eyes Wide Open

January 16, 2017
Lidsky, an entrepreneur and former child actor (best known for his role on Saved By the Bell: The New Class) thoughtfully urges a greater appreciation of the world around us, based on his experience of losing his sight between the ages of 13 and 25. “Going blind is the blessing that showed me how to live my eyes wide open,” says Lidsky, who inherited the condition of retinitis pigmentosa. “You must keep a vigilant watch for your self-limiting assumptions,” he counsels. Lidsky took his own advice and ended up graduating from Harvard at age 19, later also earning a Harvard law degree and clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court. He tells readers not to let anyone else determine how they see themselves. Lidsky also discusses the fine line between accepting and surrendering to one’s situation. Woven throughout are “fishing trips,” memorable moments with takeaways; for example, he considers the fragility of plans, first demonstrated when he and his wife Dorothy discovered they were expecting triplets, and then when one of the babies proved to have a potentially fatal heart problem in utero. This master class in counting one’s blessings will stay with readers long after the final page is turned.